Poetry of Angel Island
Happy National Poetry Month. I thought I would celebrate by sharing some of my favorite poems from the Angel Island Immigration Station. Angel Island was the point of entry for almost 300,000 immigrants coming to America from 1910-1940. The majority of those immigrants (around 175,000) were from China. The process of immigrating and landing on … Read more
Fire Horse Girl – Released this Week and Giveaway
There is a giveaway of The Fire Horse Girl and a listing of all the great books coming out this week on Adventures in YA and Children’s Publishing. It is a great site in general, so after you sign up for the giveaway, look around. Also, I will be guest-posting an Inspired Openings blog post next Monday. … Read more
Letters About Literature
Here is a plug for one of my favorite writing activities and contests for students. For Letters About Literature, students are asked to reflect on the value a book has brought to their life – how has it changed their view of themselves or the world . I love the topic. I have had students … Read more
Examining Character
We were looking at character in my eighth-grade English class. We had done the standard – what they do, what they say, what others say about them, but I wanted them to look deeper. I wanted my students to draw conclusions and see the patterns and meaning behind the character’s behavior. Because that is when … Read more
Friday Reading
“Stories can teach, correct errors, lighten the heart and the darkness, provide psychic shelter, assist transformation and heal wounds.” – Clarissa Pinlola Estes, PhD In my English class we read every Friday. I am always so struck by the power of stories on these days. I watch my students enter the world of their stories, … Read more
Five Reasons to Read Legend
1. Two great characters! I mean really great. So great, they are each their own reason. First – Day. Day is a fifteen year old on the run. The Republic is desperate to catch him, but they don’t know exactly what he looks like. He is like a ghost with a Robin Hood complex. It just … Read more
Five Reasons to Read Variant by Robison Wells
1. One of my eighth graders walked up to me with this book clutched in both hands and said. “This was a really good book.” It made me want to read it. 2. The set-up – In the opening chapter, Benson Fisher is on his way to his new school. Benson, a product of the … Read more
Why I’m Glad I Read…
I have been thinking about how to include book reviews on this site. I consider myself a very tolerant reader. I love stories and characters so much that I will often ignore flaws other people find odious just to say inside the fictional dream of a story. My reactions to stories happen on the gut … Read more
Fictional Dreams
Peter Pan “..children know such a lot now, they soon don’t believe in fairies, and every time a child says, ‘I don’t believe in fairies,’ there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead.” ― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan I took my five-year old to see the musical Peter Pan a few weeks ago. To echo … Read more
